Hong Kong's cultural landmark theater aims to regain past glory

A vintage-style ticket, hand-drawn posters of old movies and a neon light model of the parabolic truss. A recent immersive exhibition of Hong Kong's iconic theater brought back May Ma's memories of decades ago.

Ma, 74, had worked as an usher and ticket seller in the State Theater for 19 years since 1978.

In the exhibition last month, the original glamour of the theater that closed in 1997 was restored in front of Ma and many other visitors. Over 100 artifacts, including movie handbills and staff uniforms, were on display to show the theater's cultural landscape of the old days.

"It's the golden age for Hong Kong movies," said Ma. "When Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon was released, the queue (of people waiting to buy a ticket) stretched all the way to the street," Ma said.

Ma recalled that going to the theater or watching movies is the first choice of entertainment for young people at that time and she and her husband once watched five films a day.

The theater was founded in 1952 by entrepreneur Harry Oscar Odell under the name of Empire Theater. The name, State Theater, was adopted in 1959 when the theater was sold and reopened. North Point, an area in the northern part of Hong Kong Island where the theater is located, was known for its energetic nightlife, dubbed as "Little Shanghai" in the 1950s.